The presidential office said on Sunday that about 30-thousand South Koreans have returned home from abroad since late January amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presidential spokesperson Yoon Jae-kwan said in a press briefing that as of Friday, 30-thousand-174 South Koreans had returned from 103 countries.

Yoon said the government has used all possible diplomatic routes to support the safe return of South Koreans from around the world amid the outbreak. 

The spokesperson said about 17-hundred South Koreans returned on chartered flights, while some 15-thousand-800 returned home on temporary flights offered by commercial airlines. He added some 770 South Koreans returned home from 48 countries using temporary flights arranged by foreign governments. 
 
Yoon also said that the number of Japanese nationals who returned home using flights arranged by the Seoul government reached 250 from 13 countries. Meanwhile, some 100 South Koreans returned home from 13 countries using flights arranged by Tokyo.